Why,Your,Marketing,Efforts,Are marketing Why Your Marketing Efforts Aren't Working

Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t

A good friend of mine back in college wanted to learn how toplay ping-pong. Every night after dinner he would play withthe dorm Champ. Needless to say, it was a hopeless mis-match.I would stop by sometimes and watch him get pounded overand over again. The Champ was merciless: 21-2, 21-1, 21-3were typical scores.Being an acquaintance of the Champ, I asked him once why hewasn't taking it a little easier on such a novice player. I'vethought about his answer many times since then because ithas come to my aid time and time again.If you're like the overwhelming majority of netrepreneurs,I'm sure you've been trying to figure out why yourmarketing efforts have been taking a *pounding*. In fact,it's likely you're even using many of the same techniquesas the *Internet Guru's*, but they just don't seem to workfor you.Why? Well, if you're not attracting traffic, and if you'renot converting visitors into sales, the first place to lookis at *the words* you use. Your *pounding* is very likelydue to your own copywriting: your ad headlines, your salespage, and your ezine copy.The one single characteristic virtually every InternetExpert has in common is the ability to write like thedickens. And with competition so widespread and so fierce,if your copywriting is only *average*, or worse, anymarketing effort is unlikely to get off the ground.I recently used the "Search Term Suggestion Tool" over atOverture for a little test. Here's what I found in a recentmonth. There were:*****96,000 searches for *internet marketing******152,000 searches for *home business******162,000 searches for *marketing******and 108,000 searches for *advertising*That's 518,000 searches for marketing related topics.Now, get this. There were less than 5,000 searches for*copywriting* and less than 4,000 for *writing skills*.That's less than 2% of the total … and offers a strong hintof why 95% of businesses on the web fail.Admittedly, this isn't scientific, but what it indicates isthat those people who are interested in making money onthe web, are not very interested in learning how to writegreat copy … even though this is the very skill thatseparates the big money makers from everyone else.Do you have a copywriting problem? It's easy to know. Ifyou're short on site traffic and sales, the answer is, *yes*.There's plenty of ways of getting traffic to your site. Ifit's not happening, your promotional copy isn't getting thejob done and needs to be reworked. Ditto for sales.So, how do you *write for the web*? Here's some quickpointers to get you started.1.) Write from your prospects point of you. Keep the *I's*to a minimum and use plenty of *you's*.2.) Use powerful words in your headlines, such as*Discover*, *Breakthrough*, *The Truth About*, *Amazing*,*New*, *Money*, *Magic* and *Proven* to name a few. Eventhe old *How To* keeps on working.3.) Avoid over hyping. Claiming to have secrets that willmake people rich almost overnight loses credibility.4.) Experiment with your ad headlines. I tripled theresponse to an ad by changing just a few words, from*Frustrated With Your Online Earnings?* to *Are YouFrustrated With The Money You've Been Making?*.5.) Use simple, everyday words to make your points. Don'tsay, *Use average language to be understood properly*.6.) Keep your paragraphs short (2-4 sentences) and yoursentences brief. Instead of, *Receive everything you needin your mailbox in a few moments*, say, *Get it all rightnow*.7.) Stress the benefits, not the features. Instead of*This product comes with a money-back guarantee*, say,*Think of all the time, energy and money you`ll save withthis lifetime guarantee*.8.) On your sales page, state the problem, stir up theproblem and then solve the problem.9.) Use *bullets* to list your benefits. Many visitorswill read your sales page only after a quick scan of yourheadlines and bullets.10.) Motivate action by using action verbs throughout yourcopy, such as *unleash, explode, break, pull, punch andspread*, to name a few. This helps the reader get in theframe of mind for taking action. Then close with an actionstatement. Instead of *Build bigger profits*, say *Makemore money now*.11.) Visit the web sites of known Internet Experts,subscribe to their newsletters and study, study, study.There's no doubt that learning to write great copy will havean immediate, positive impact on every marketing methodyou use. And the good news is that it is definitely learn-able.So, what was *The Champ`s* answer to me and how can you useit to improve your internet results? I think it's clear.He said, "Your friend isn't looking for recreation. Hewants to become a serious player."A month later, he had indeed become a serious player. No,he didn't get better than the Champ, but he gave him a runfor his money nearly every time … even beating him once ina while.So, if you've been taking a marketing pounding, learn fromthe copywriting champs. And keep on playing.